Illustrations for Art in the Blood

The following illustrations were painted by author Bonnie MacBird generally using the techniques of Sidney Paget, one of the first and arguably the most famous illustrator of the original Conan Doyle stories. As Paget did, she had her friends photographed (ours were period costumes, his contemporary, obviously) in scenes from the book, then sketched these up, added backgrounds, and painted them in monochromatic watercolor, pen and ink. That all her friends were actors added considerably to the dramatic feeling. See cast list below.

13: “Leaping and parrying with his shovel, Holmes easily fought off both of them. But against four…”

Special thanks to Robert Mammana who took the photographs and posed for Vidocq, Rob Arbogast and Paul Denniston who modeled for Holmes and Watson, and Miguel Perez, Samara Bay, Brad Bose, Jonathan LeBillon, and Ryan Johnson who also modeled.